New guy with old motor what to do?

Hi all I've been lurking for a week or so saw the extreme knowledge of the members here so here I go..I recently acquired a great barn(yard) find, a 1956 Javelin 30hp motor,my girlfriend an I went to an estate sale and way in the back yard was an old boat with an old tin cooler I inquired about the cooler got a price($5) then asked about the motor cause the housing looked cool and I said how much and was told $75 I said it's froze up missing parts I'll think about it.After an hour of milling around I told the guy $20 for the motor and cooler he said your killing me and took it.After we got it home we removed the housing and the mice had a3 level condo built and I think all the mouse nesting helped keep it from rotting.After asking on a few site's I was told that it's a pressurized system so w/no tanks it need to be changed around, so back I went and found 2 gas tanks,then asking some more I found it was missing the front cover and with out the the value was would be minimal so yesterday back I went and searching lo and behold found the front cover.Since I got the motor I worked it free with lots of PB Blaster and mussel got it turning freed up the recoil put some plugs in it and we have compression The motor also has an electric start. Now the motor is 100% complete and turns over.Now my dilemma do I paint the housing shine up the chrome and have the motor rebuilt,or leave it in it original state and sell it as barn fresh?I know nothing about boats and motors,I'm a biker and know American made bikes.What do I do,I also have no idea of the value.I'm just outside Buffalo NY
Thanks up front guys,Mikey
Sorry for being long winded

Re: New guy with old motor what to do?

What was the compression? Post a couple of pic's if you can, you might find someone on here that is interested in it if you decide you don't want to keep it. For the most part they are very easy to work on and can be quite habit forming. Did I mention we like pic's and welcome aboard. Bob

Re: New guy with old motor what to do?

It depends on who you are marketing.

Collectors like myself dont like buying motors that have been worked on, we like em barn fresh so to speak.

A fisherman would want it mechanically restored and running well, wouldnt care about cosmetics.

Re: New guy with old motor what to do?

You will want to check over that motor entirely before you sell it. Finding a motor with parts missing, is a form of a red flag. Usually one conks out then people start taking parts from it. So, give this motor a thorough check up. In some cases like this, you can get it running good and find issues with the lower unit, while you're out on the water.

Like Chris said, us antique collectors like the barn fresh ones that never been worked on.

Re: New guy with old motor what to do?

By 100% complete,I mean that as far as I can tell nothing is missing as far as I can tell everything that came on the motor is now back w/the motor....As far as who I'm marketing it too I didn't try to make it sound like I was trying to market it,but I guess I'd want it to go to someone who appreciates it and would want to bring it back for the rare motor it is.I buy and sell Harley Davidson's and would much rather have something in it's original condition,working or not as close to complete as possible.Also the motor now is far from being ablke to use it would need to be completely gone through ..I finally figured out how to post pics so here are a few.Thanks everyone for your reply's....
Thanks,Mikey
The 1st picture is as it looks now with the 2 gas tanks are below it if anyone would like more pictures please LMK

Re: New guy with old motor what to do?

So Zeph, I went down and picked up this motor. Was a run across the border for me but add another Javelin to the stable

It had a factory whale tail, never seen that before. Interesting.